It would be nice if we could also see the preset patches in the GAIA tool. However we don’t have direct access to them, and I don’t want to bundle these for license reasons, so we need a different way to retrieve them.
The preset patches can be retrieved from the GAIA by sending it program change messages, and then retrieving the patch from the temporary patch data. The patch data should be verified using known hashes of all the preset patches (in case the user tampers with the controls). After all preset patches have been retrieved this way, they can be saved in the settings directory.
In terms of interaction, I’m thinking about the following approach:
When the user opens the Preset Patches panel and they are not available, show a “Populate preset patches” button. This button will warn that the temporary patch will be overwritten during the process and ask for confirmation. After that, a blocking progress dialog will show up while the patch data is being retrieved.
Alternatively this populating could be done on first run. The preset patch data can then be assumed to be present, if needed for some reason. However until a good reason for this is found, probably this is not a good idea. It isn’t very nice interaction-wise (can’t use the tool until this is done), and will surprise/deter new users.